On Feb. 12 and 13, juniors sat in the main forum during their English period to learn about the new ACT prep course that is available for juniors to use this year. This course will help students feel more prepared to take the ACT test on March 12.
This new prep course is called OnToCollege. OnToCollege has been implicated in more than 800 different schools around the United States. OnToCollege has also been recognized to be able to increase overall high school ACT scores by 1-3 points and increase SAT scores by 50-150 points. This may not seem like a lot, but just a couple points can go a long way.
OnToCollege offers four different courses to practice with English, reading, math and science. It offers different sessions for each of the courses. There are also live help sessions available from 7:30-8:30 p.m. every Friday night before the ACT, along with practice tests and other resources available at any time.
“Students are always going to be at some point needing to take a time to test. And so those test taking strategies apply to not just the ACT but just timed tests in general, or how do you focus your time? How do you manage your time throughout that test,” counselor Alec Shern said
Students are always going to be at some point needing to take a time to test. And so those test taking strategies apply to not just the ACT but just timed tests in general, or how do you focus your time? How do you manage your time throughout that test?”
— Alec Shern
Even for students not taking the ACT instead planning on going into the Military or straight into the workforce it can still be beneficial towards them when taking the ASVAB, applying for ROTC, using the testing skills for diagnostic tests in the future, or just generalized math, reading, science and comprehension skills.
“I think it can be useful in like other types of tests as well like the SAT or the ASVAB, but just testing in general, just learning, like strategies for it,” junior Ryan Hall said.
Many students have been thinking back to the Pre-ACT and how OnToCollege could have potentially been able to be a resource for the students taking the test this past fall. The Pre-ACT is a way of giving students a feeling of what the actual ACT is like rather than just being thrown into it. Many sophomores took the test this year and it has come up if it should be used as a baseline test or if students should have been able to have access to this resource.
“I think taking the Pre ACT, as like just a baseline without studying is just a good way to know like, how you could do it without studying but I feel like if you want to do good on your actual ACT, taking the course would help but leaving the Pre-ACT as like a baseline,” junior Kaitlyn Anderson said who took the Pre-ACT last year.
OnToCollege will hopefully have a positive impact on the juniors this year and be beneficial to improving test scores throughout the high school with not only the ACT, but also the SAT and other future tests. The skills learned from taking the ACT can be further applied in life. Juniors will be able to take the ACT on March 12.
